AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 4

What Makes Premium Cassava Flour Special?
Manufacturers of baked goods
and snack foods differentiate
in the crowded marketplace
by offering specialty products
that speak to today's
consumers' wants and needs.
Some of the most frequently
requested products are those
with gluten-free, grain-free and
non-GMO claims.
Food Business News spoke with
Mel Festejo, COO of AKFP to
learn how Premium Cassava
Flour, alone or in a mix, assists

with the development of
delicious, high-quality baked
goods and snack foods.
FBN: What is cassava?
Mr. Festejo: Cassava, also
commonly known as yucca or
manioc, is a perennial woody
shrub with an edible root that
grows in tropical and subtropical
areas of the world. While many
food professionals are familiar
with and have used tapioca
starches and like derivatives, few
know that tapioca's raw material
is the root of the cassava plant.
Tapioca or cassava starch is
produced by the extraction of
only the starch component of
the root. Tapioca or cassava
flour, on the other hand, requires
the processing of the whole
peeled root. Too many people
erroneously believe that these
starch and flour ingredients are
one and the same.
FBN: Is cassava readily
available in the U.S.?
Mr. Festejo: Cassava
processors and vendors,
mostly from Asia, produced
and sold tapioca flour up until
the late 1970s. They then

adopted starch manufacturing
technology and since produced
and sold only tapioca starch
and a number of them
continued to refer to this
new ingredient as tapioca
flour. Tapioca flour, or more
appropriately, cassava flour, is
still produced and consumed
in tropical countries where the
cassava plant is indigenously
grown. However, the quality and
characteristics of the flour are
adapted only to native dishes
in these countries. These local
cassava flours are not well
suited for use in gluten-free
baked goods and snack foods.
Our proprietary technology is
making cassava flour a highly
suitable functional, nutritional,
clean-label ingredient for glutenfree and even grain-free baking
applications.
FBN: How is something old like
cassava, now a new ingredient
for product innovators to
explore?
Mr. Festejo: We developed
Premium Cassava Flour, which
delivers baking performance
characteristics that closely
mimic the structure, texture
and taste of numerous

SmartSolution: Acrylamide Reduction.

Acrylamide, a known Group 2A carcinogen, is formed in food when asparagine reacts with reducing
sugars under high temperature/low moisture conditions. Consequently, many baked goods
and snack foods contain this compound. This is particularly true of extruded snacks based on
dehydrated potatoes, which are often used because of their excellent extrudate properties. The
challenge is that potatoes contain high levels of reducing sugars. Premium cassava flour, on the
other hand, has similar extrudate properties while having much lower levels (not exceeding 0.5%) of
reducing sugars. Premium cassava flour can be used in baked and fried extruded snacks, providing a
smart approach to addressing the acrylamide reduction challenge.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018

AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 1
AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 2
AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 3
AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 4
AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 5
AKPF: Gluten-Free Baking - April 2018 - 6
https://www.nxtbook.com/sosland/akpf/2018_04_01
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